talk shows and defended the man nominated to succeed him atthepentagon. panettasuggested the tough questioning senator hagel faced during third's capitol hill hearing, was driven by politics. >> it is pretty obvious the political knives were out for chuck hagel. what disappointed me is that they talked a lot about past quotes but what about when a secretary of defense is confronting today? we did not see enough time spent on discussing those issues. in the end that is what counted. >> he says hagel should have been questions about issues like afghanistan, the middle east, and the looming budget cuts at the pentagon but he came underfire for past statements of israel, iran, and u.s. nuclear strategy. at least 12 republicans plan to vote against hagel while only two, so far, have said they would vote for him. that is congress ran of mississippi, and a senator from nebraska. observers on both sides thought hagel did not do such a great job at the hearing. >> disconcerting thing, obviously fox anyone that watched it, he seemed unimpressive and unprepared on the questions that he knew w

for the jobofpentagonchief.neb lawmaker joins stan cochran of mississippi in supporting hagel's nomination. this comes after a firey confirmation hearing with members of the senate armed services committee. the democrats hold the majority, boosting white house expectations of hagel's confirmation perhaps as early as the coming week. i'm lauren greene. now, back to "geraldo at large." >> geraldo: welcome back, everybody. kelly ripa is really going to be upset. her cohost michael strahan the former defensive end did not make the profootball hall of fame. he was eliminated today on the final ballot. too bad, michael. he was a great one. and they make an adorable couple together. former giants jets patriots head coach bill parcells did make the hall of fame. meanwhile, robert griffin iii voted the nfl rookie of the year. and the man who set the moment when it comes to the great, washington quarterback, the winner of super bowl xvii joe theismann from new orleans and the mighty linebacker for the philadelphia eagles. dawdh. in i, do you you miss is volcano a a sense of longing when you look at

chuck hagel's corn firmationaspentagonchief.what could republicans do? they could filibuster, i hear no signals that that's going to happen. i do not think that opposing the president's choice for a cabinet position is something that republicans want to fight with a filibuster. that's heavy artillery, i'm not sure they want to do, but they will voice their displeasure on the floor. most observers watching this think you're likely to see chuck hagel as the next defense secretary. >> if panetta doesn't serve up the red meat republicans want, could that hold up hagel's confirmation? >> he was out of office during benghazi, what did hold it up, there were republicans who said, until we get the current defense secretary who was around during bengha benghazi, down here in front of these committees, we're not going to confirm chuck hagel. >> what does this mean for the push for gun control measures? >> i think what we can say, watching the president from the time of the new town connecticut shootings, he promised to use the bully pulpit to push this. and he has. i think he will continue to